So there was no rush this morning and we slept in until 8am - another good night's sleep. Then again, I'd had a sore throat overnight and so I bought some Strepsils this morning from the 7-Eleven next door. Hopefully this will fix the problem.
We checked out at 11:30am and caught a taxi to Sentosa. It was only a short trip. When you enter Sentosa Island, there are toll gates where you need to pay a $6 fee unless you have an accommodation booking. I held up the printout of our booking and she waved us through.
The entrance to the Sofitel Hotel is very impressive. As expected, our room wasn't ready and they promised to have it ready for us by 2pm. Angela, the lady at reception, then took us on a guided tour of the hotel. This was very special service.
She took us along walkways lined with columns with grassed areas, pools, fountains and statues on either side. We ended up at the Italian restaurant near the swimming pool. The grounds are well laid out and tastefully designed.
On her recommendation, we walked down the timber stairs to the beachfront and walked along the covered walkway to Tanjong Beach. This was obviously a very popular beach - probably more so because it was Sunday.
There were people swimming in the water, sun-baking on the beach and relaxing on banana chairs. The beach bar was popular. We walked along the beach to a nearby headland to admire the view from different perspectives.
When we were heading back through the car park towards the hotel, we noticed a sign warning people about wild peacocks. Apparently the peacocks often mistake reflections in shiny cars as being another peacock and end up scratching the cars. We're told the problem is worse now because it's currently mating season for peacocks.
Near the pool bar, we noticed a pool where you can dangle your feet and have fish clean them for you. Suzy tried it first and then somehow convinced me to give it a go. I didn't last very long because it was very ticklish. The fish were only small and it was strange seeing them crawling all over your feet.
For lunch we found a small table outside the bar overlooking artificial pools and the swimming pool. We had chicken skewers, a meat and cheese platter, a G&T and a Tiger draft beer. By this time it was almost 2pm.
Our room was ready and they'd changed us from the room we'd originally been allocated. Initially we were to be in the Tranquility Wing and now we were in the Peace Wing. There seems to be theme here.
Our room was great - spacious, comfortable and nicely designed. There was no fancy technology like the Sofitel SO Hotel in Singapore City but that didn't matter. The bathroom has a separate shower, separate bath and separate toilet. It has a desk for my laptop and plenty of power points.
The coffee area is intriguing. It's in a cylindrical piece of furniture outside the bathroom. There is fliptop that exposes the coffee machine etc and below is the mini bar and other cupboards. Cute.
After a while, we ended up turning off the air conditioning because it was too cool. Angela rang to check that everything was Ok.
We decided to do an outing this afternoon to go on the cable car to Faber Peak. After some confusion about the shuttle bus, we got a taxi which took us to Beach Station. Then we walked up the hill past the Merlion statue to find our way to the cable car.
The whole area (Merlion Plaza) is a busy tourist area with plenty of attractions. The information booth sold us our tickets and told us where to go. We went up four flights of escalators to get to the top of the hill. There was a different cable car heading past us that went to a different location, Imbiah Lookout. On the other side was a large building housing the Madame Tussauds Singapore exhibition.
Naturally the entrance and exit for the cable-way was via the gift shop. There was a queue but it wasn't too long. The sign said that the capacity of each car was eight people but they gave us a car all to ourselves (except for a staff member who was probably finishing her shift and going home).
The cable car goes high up over the harbour giving great views of Singapore and Sentosa Island. There is an intermediate station but we continued to the final destination at Faber Peak. Here there are restaurants and a gift shop. We didn't stay long and caught the cableway back to the Merlion Plaza.
It was hard to figure out the bus arrangements, so we caught a taxi again back to our hotel.
Suzy had vouchers for free drinks for both of us and so we went to the hotel bar at 7am. I had a glass of the house red whereas Suzy had something much more interesting - the Singapore Sling which was a potent pink drink.
Our dinner booking was for the buffet dinner in the Kwee Zeen restaurant near the hotel foyer. There were plenty of great options to choose from including prawns. We had more red wine to accompany the meal (despite the price). Suzy's Accor Plus card gives us half price for the food and 15% discount for drinks.
She took us along walkways lined with columns with grassed areas, pools, fountains and statues on either side. We ended up at the Italian restaurant near the swimming pool. The grounds are well laid out and tastefully designed.
There were people swimming in the water, sun-baking on the beach and relaxing on banana chairs. The beach bar was popular. We walked along the beach to a nearby headland to admire the view from different perspectives.
Near the pool bar, we noticed a pool where you can dangle your feet and have fish clean them for you. Suzy tried it first and then somehow convinced me to give it a go. I didn't last very long because it was very ticklish. The fish were only small and it was strange seeing them crawling all over your feet.
Our room was ready and they'd changed us from the room we'd originally been allocated. Initially we were to be in the Tranquility Wing and now we were in the Peace Wing. There seems to be theme here.
The coffee area is intriguing. It's in a cylindrical piece of furniture outside the bathroom. There is fliptop that exposes the coffee machine etc and below is the mini bar and other cupboards. Cute.
After a while, we ended up turning off the air conditioning because it was too cool. Angela rang to check that everything was Ok.
The whole area (Merlion Plaza) is a busy tourist area with plenty of attractions. The information booth sold us our tickets and told us where to go. We went up four flights of escalators to get to the top of the hill. There was a different cable car heading past us that went to a different location, Imbiah Lookout. On the other side was a large building housing the Madame Tussauds Singapore exhibition.
The cable car goes high up over the harbour giving great views of Singapore and Sentosa Island. There is an intermediate station but we continued to the final destination at Faber Peak. Here there are restaurants and a gift shop. We didn't stay long and caught the cableway back to the Merlion Plaza.
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